Destined
by coldfusion9797
Summary: Denny is faced with a choice. Inspired by the episode that aired in Australia on 14.09.15. MASSIVE SPOILERS. I really recommend you don't read this until you are up to date. One-shot. Casey/Denny


**AN: I was totally shocked by Denny's death, I had no idea it was coming. (And I really feel I should congratulate the H &A crew on that, the best storylines are the ones you don't see coming.) Anyway, this is an idea I've always had for Casey and now seemed like a good time to use it. Enjoy. **

When Denny woke someone was waiting for her. A beautiful woman with blue eyes and long brown hair.

"Denny," she smiled softly, extending a hand to help her up.

Denny felt strange, light-headed and vague and she had the strong urge to look back. She knew something awful lay behind her but the woman told her not to turn around.

"It's in the past now," she said, so Denny left the bad feeling behind.

"What happened? Where are we?"

"Follow me."

Denny did but she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew this woman.

"Wait do I know you? I feel like I've seen you before."

Now they were outside the woman stopped to speak to her.

"You might recognise my face; you've probably seen it in photos. I'm Charlie."

"Charlie? Brax's girlfriend? But you're dead."

"I am."

"Then I'm..."

"Yes."

"What happened? I remember I was fighting with Charlotte. Did she kill me?"

"It was an accident. You fell and hit your head."

"But if I'm dead and you're dead and we're here... Then Casey?" she asked hopefully.

Was this it? Was she really going to be reunited with him?

Charlie shook her head.

"He chose another path."

"Then I want to choose it too. I want to be wherever he is."

"It's not that simple. I'll show you."

Charlie reached out and took her hand and in the blink of an eye they were standing in Ricky's flat.

Briefly Denny wondered what this must be like for Charlie. To see that the man she loved had moved on with someone else. Did it have anything to do with where Casey was now? Had he seen her with Ash?

Charlie looked into the cot and Denny did the same. Casey lay there sleeping peacefully. He was a bright and happy baby and she'd enjoyed spending time with him.

"You know that Ricky miscarried once before."

"Yeah."

"And you remember the bus crash?"

"Of course."

"She was going to lose another baby."

"You mean Case was going to die? What changed?"

"Casey intervened. He saw it die and to save Brax and Ricky the pain of losing another child he gave it his life force or spirit or soul depending on what you want to call it."

"So you're saying that Casey is really Casey? That this child is my Casey reincarnated?"

"Yes."

She'd always been drawn to Ricky's baby son but she'd assumed that was because she knew what it was like to grow up without a father. He would always feel like something was missing but having people around him who loved and supported him would make life easier.

She gazed wonderingly at the baby, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

"You can wait for him, time means nothing to us here, but he won't be the same. He'll have lived another life by the time you meet again..."

"It sounds like you're saying I have a choice."

"You do. Phoebe's other baby is about to die. She already lost one twin; you can spare her the pain of losing both."

"Phoebe's having twins?"

"She was."

"And the other will die if I don't do this?"

"Yes."

"Then of course I'll do it," Denny answered eagerly. It was a way to help her friends and get back to Casey.

"But if you do," Charlie warned, "you and Casey won't remember each other. When you meet again there'll be a recognition but no memories of your life together."

"It'll be enough." Life without him had been miserable and death would be the same.

"There is a catch Denny. You can save the baby and you can see Casey again but doing it this way will make you Casey's cousin. You understand what that means?"

"You're saying we can't be together."

"That's right."

It was a hard pill to swallow but Casey was lost to her either way.

"I'll do it. For Phoebe and Kyle," Denny decided. "But what about you? What will you do?"

"Watch and wait. Brax will find his way back to me one day. And he's going to need someone looking out for him until then." They shared a smile because they both knew Brax had a knack for finding trouble.

Ricky appeared then to check on little Casey. Of course she couldn't see them and they watched as she gazed lovingly down at her sleeping child.

"What about Ricky?" Denny asked.

"There's someone else for her. She just has to stop fighting and let herself love him."

xxx

"A beautiful, healthy baby girl," Ash said, admiring the adorable baby Phoebe had given birth too. Something about her reminded him of Denny, but that might just be because they'd buried her not so long ago and she was in his thoughts after so long of not knowing. "Looks like the doctors got it wrong after all. You made the right call Phoebes."

"I know," she smiled at him.

"How's it all going?" Nate asked as he entered the room.

"Great," Ash beamed.

"Yeah," Phoebe agreed, "everything's perfect."

"Well, I have some news here. Hopefully it's something you'll both be pleased to hear. Now you know we've been running a lot of tests just to make sure everything is good with the baby and as a part of those routine tests I had the lab run the paternity test again just to be sure. The results are back and I think congratulations are in order for you Ash."

"You're saying I'm the father? But how? Last time the test said Kyle was. Are you sure?"

"I'm certain. You're the father. It's possible the other test belonged to the baby you lost."

"You're saying the babies had different fathers?" Phoebe said.

"It's not unheard of, but there's no way to be certain now. I hope this is welcome news, I'll leave you to it."

"What do you think?" Ash turned to Phoebe and asked.

"I think I can't believe how lucky we are. What about you? Are you happy?"

"Are you kidding? This is the best news ever," he grinned, before leaning over to kiss her.

"And you know what else I think?" he said.

"What's that?"

"It makes naming rights fifty percent mine. What do you reckon about calling her Danni? Maybe Danielle instead of Denise? If she can be half the chick Denny was I reckon we'll be pretty lucky parents."

"Yeah, I think that sounds great."


End file.
